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On Saturday, operator ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the local unit of Luxembourg-based steelmaker ArcelorMittal, said 206 of 252 people at the Kostenko mine had been evacuated after what appeared to be a methane blast.

It is the latest in a string of workplace deaths at sites operated by ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the local unit of ArcelorMittal that operates the country’s largest steel plants and several coal and ore mines.

Following the latest fire, Kazakhstan announced the nationalization of ArcelorMittal Temirtau.

In a statement, ArcelorMittal Temirtau said that work had been halted at all of its coal mining sites in Kazakhstan.

The Kazakh city of Temirtau - the company’s namesake and home of its steel plant - made global headlines in 2018 after being blanketed in black snow, a phenomenon that the company attributed to a lack of wind.